Motherboard/chipset recommendations?
 

I'm looking at dropping a new set of guts into my current computer, and want it to be able to handle just about any type of hardware or software coming out soon. I think what I want is sometype of Athlon 64 with PCI-E support, but am not really sure of what would be best for my needs. This is gonna be pretty much a do anything PC, from browsing the boards to playing games. I'm looking to spend about 200-250 at most if I can get away with it.

What should I be looking for, and where could I pick it up cheapest?

as of now, there are no amd boards with pci-e support yet. I have looked around and have found none, just intel boards. Statements are floating around that thay will not hit the market till late frist quarter of 2005.

Nvidia is supposed to be releasing their nforce 4 chipset sometime in the near future, or so I thought. That will support PCI-E and A64 processors. Last rumor I heard was christmas time or sooner, but who knows.

Seems to be a lull in the production cycle right now for AMD boards. I'd wait for an AMD board with the nvidia chip set. Hopefully Asus will have a good one.

An Athlon 64 setup with a PCI-E mobo isn't gonna happen for $200-$250. I'd look into an Athlon XP 3200+ with a nice nforce 2 motherboard.

-Lasereth

Whats the main difference between an XP and a 64?

Athlon 64's are simply more powerful in games, otherwise you won't notice a difference. Buying an Athlon 64 is expensive; I'd buy at least the 3000+ and I highly recommend at least the 3200+ 1 MB L2 version. The processor only is over $200 with the motherboard being around $120. An Athlon XP can be bought for much cheaper along with a motherboard.

Is it worth the money? Yeah, the 64's are powerful. Can you buy a decent Athlon 64 with a mobo for $200-$250? Nope.

Buying an Athlon XP 3200+ and a cheap motherboard is the best option at your price range. Remember that if you're gonna play games you'll need a good videocard too if you don't already have one.

-Lasereth

Yeah, thats the other purchase I'm looking at right now. I might actually get a good video card first, as I am probly not gonna pick up a PCI-E card now.

ok but looking on sites with mb and cpu's i can see what ram they take but never do i see what the top end max you can have.. most mb i look at have two ram slots.. does that mean i can just buy 1024mb of 400 ddr and stick i in just one slot or do i have to go the 2x256 ram instead.. confusing yet im a newb lol

Well, a 32bit processor has a maximum of 4GB of RAM. Thats any processor thats not an AMD64, and AMD FX series, or the pentium itanium. There is no problem with buying a 1gig stick and putting it in one slot, but you won't get the benefits of DualDDR. Personally if you want 1gig of RAM, I would go with 2 512MB sticks, and a Dual DDR motherboard. You can get an asus A7N8X-E Deluxe for $130(CDN), and an Athlon XP 3000+ for about 230(CDN) or less. That's what i'm running, and I can play any of the new games so far.

What ype of price range is a AMD64 MB/Chip gonna hit? I want something that will last a long time...

Check these out. Both from newegg:
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...128-259&depa=1
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...103-486&depa=1

Hmmm, thats not bad at all, about $240. When it says 5 PCI slots, is that 5 PCI-E, or regular PCI?

regular, as there is currently no amd boards with pci x